by NOEL MURPHY
THE MYSTERY of missing Geelong man Daniel O’Keeffe is now focussing on the Northern Territory.
The Brazilian jujitu instructor, who disappeared in 2011 aged 24, has become an international case as his family maintains an extraordinary search – which is now homing in on the Top End.
O’Keeffe disappeared on July 15, 2011 but his family say he was sighted on CCTV footage at a Queensland medical centre in November that year. He had been suffering depression when he vanished from his Geelong home without any taking any belongings other than his mobile phone.
“It was a Friday morning in the middle of winter. Dan was chatting to Dad in the kitchen. Ten minutes later Mum came downstairs to say good morning to Dan and he had already gone,’ his sister Loren told Daily Mail Australia this week.
“His wallet was still in his bedroom full of money. Nobody panicked because he was then 24 years old and had his own business – he was a Brazilian jujitsu mixed martial artist who ran his own academy in Werribee.”
Loren told the online media outlet her family had spent the last four years travelling around many parts of Australia.
“The area we decided has been most difficult to reach is around the northern and north-western regions of the country,” she said.
“We have had a few leads from people up around NT and WA in recent months, so we decided to go up there ourselves to follow it up – phone calls, emails and texts about possible sightings isn’t really enough and they’re often impossible to investigate.”
The Northern Territory News reported O’Keeffe’s parents, Des and Lori O’Keeffe touched down in Darwin on Wednesday to appeal for information and search for their son.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind that we haven’t (searched) in Darwin,” Lori said.
“I just get this feeling that wherever Dan is he must be somewhere warm. Somewhere that would basically allow him to live rough if he had to.
“We’ve done NSW and Victoria of course and right up to Cape Tribulation in QLD and Cairns and all those tropical places up there but we’ve never been to Darwin.
“Dan had never been to the Territory as far as we know. But we just thought Darwin could be a place he could well be. It’s a casual lifestyle. Maybe some casual jobs are easy to get. So it’s always just plagued me that we hadn’t come here.”
For more information contact: facebook.com/dancomehome
Alternatively, call the Dan Come Home hotline: 0478661092; Crimestoppers: 1800333000; or Police Assistance Line: 131444.
